Re: [scots-l] Re: Burns Night
Jerry Agin wrote: Carla and Bob Rogers wrote: > Another GMHG story: I played with a random, assorted, and unpaid for > group of musicians (a wee dram to the first person to identify the > reference) on two seperate nights. The "star tallent" was the same on > both nights. The attenence was much greater on the night the button box > dropped in. I don't think the explanation is that everyone came to hear > accordian. I think it's just the sound of that instrument carries better. Are you referring to the music that takes place in the campground after all the tourists go home? I had heard that there was great music at the campground, so two years ago I pitched my tent on top of the mountain. The first evening I wandered around looking for a good music session to join. I found a few musicians who knew old-timey tunes, and a smaller number who knew a few Irish tunes, but I never connected with any Scottish musicians. The second evening I went to the Scottish Country Dance at Lees-McRae College, and returned to my tent a little past midnight. I could tell from the noises that there was some wild partying going on, but it sounded like African or Native American drumming with a few bagpipes thrown in. I didn't even bother to cross the road to check it out. If there had been any fiddles, or even accordions, they wouldn't have been able to hear each other. Is there something I missed? Jerry Agin Hi Jerry, Sorry it took so long to get back to you on this. Things have gotten busy at work and I've been neglecting my email. It sounds like you arrived on Thursday. We usually go up on Tuesday to beat the crowds. Wednesday is usually a good night for music -- it's not after the tourists leave, it's before they arrive. Thursday is the big concert, so usually nothing much goes on then. Fridays and Saturdays can be ok, depending. Last year was bad for music due to the cold wet weather. The drum circles are a fairly recent "addition". They can be annoying. There are some Scottish musicians, playing traditional tunes, including at least one fiddler actually from Scotland. There is also the occasional professional musician. I saw Ed Miller in the campground before I knew who he was. I remember thinking, "this guy is *really* good". The guys I hang out with play electric guitar. It's sort of a slow session, because they don't know any tunes and I don't know very many. They mix things up with rock and blues, and sometimes someone else drops in. Two years ago one of them couldn't make it so the other one didn't bring his guitar. My goal is to have 20 playable tunes this summer. Bob Rogers South Carolina Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] Re: Burns Night
In a message dated 1/29/03 6:51:59 PM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Wow, you're serious that you couldn't find any Scottish players at the Grandfather mountain games? We hide out in the ski lodges and have ceilidhs. Honestly! Hook up with ACGA at the Gaelic tent and we'll tell you where we lurk. (We won't be in the campground, certainly not. With a harp? Are you kidding? It's too much of a party scene up there.) --Cynthia Cathcart http://www.cynthiacathcart.net/
Re: [scots-l] Re: Burns Night
> I had heard that there was great music at the campground, so two years > ago I pitched my tent on top of the mountain. The first evening I > wandered around looking for a good music session to join. I found a few > musicians who knew old-timey tunes, and a smaller number who knew a few > Irish tunes, but I never connected with any Scottish musicians. Wow, you're serious that you couldn't find any Scottish players at the Grandfather mountain games? The largest highland games in the US? That's depressing.. Toby Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] Re: Burns Night
Carla and Bob Rogers wrote: > Another GMHG story: I played with a random, assorted, and unpaid for > group of musicians (a wee dram to the first person to identify the > reference) on two seperate nights. The "star tallent" was the same on > both nights. The attenence was much greater on the night the button box > dropped in. I don't think the explanation is that everyone came to hear > accordian. I think it's just the sound of that instrument carries better. Are you referring to the music that takes place in the campground after all the tourists go home? I had heard that there was great music at the campground, so two years ago I pitched my tent on top of the mountain. The first evening I wandered around looking for a good music session to join. I found a few musicians who knew old-timey tunes, and a smaller number who knew a few Irish tunes, but I never connected with any Scottish musicians. The second evening I went to the Scottish Country Dance at Lees-McRae College, and returned to my tent a little past midnight. I could tell from the noises that there was some wild partying going on, but it sounded like African or Native American drumming with a few bagpipes thrown in. I didn't even bother to cross the road to check it out. If there had been any fiddles, or even accordions, they wouldn't have been able to hear each other. Is there something I missed? Jerry Agin Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] Re: Burns Night
David Francis wrote: Which brings me to a question. How did they do it in the old days without amplification? Well. Two years ago at Grandfather Mountain Highland Games, I was at Celtic Grove 1, and the PA system went down. Full Moon Ensemble was playing. Daniel, the fiddler, stepped down off the stage and continued playing. Everyone could hear him -- we just had to listen more. Another GMHG story: I played with a random, assorted, and unpaid for group of musicians (a wee dram to the first person to identify the reference) on two seperate nights. The "star tallent" was the same on both nights. The attenence was much greater on the night the button box dropped in. I don't think the explanation is that everyone came to hear accordian. I think it's just the sound of that instrument carries better. I actually go to other games too, just most of my good stories go with Grandfather. From an acoustics standpoint, 76 of a given instrument sound about 3x as loud as one. There really isn't strength in numbers, other than filling in when one drops out, or making up for acoustic deficiencies in another's instrument. Symphony conductors specify more or fewer of a given instrument to control texture. Or at least that's what I've read. In the 18th century, cellos were common in dance bands. Maybe because the bass cuts through -- esp. if he's in a corner. They had easy parts too. Bob Rogers South Carolina Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] Re: Burns Night
David Francis wrote: You could imagine a certain gentility and politeness in the Edinburgh Assembly Rooms, but you would expect other gatherings to be a bit more vigorous and boisterous. Were gatherings smaller? Did fewer people dance at a time? Were the bands bigger (I'm thinking about the pre-accordion era)? Did musicians play louder? Any thoughts? Yes - it's impossible for anyone brought up today to have any idea how people even 200 years ago 'heard' the world round them. I guess we get some impression by getting into mountains, etc, but even then a road 20 miles away can create a ground level of noise. Apart from rivers, the sea or the wind the background noise of 18th c Scots city life must have very cacophonous and not the sort of level drone of traffic, computer fans, central heating pumps and stuff we have taking up the first few decibels of our ear sensitivity. People talking, hooves and iron rimmed wheels on cobbles, dogs barking, artisans working with tools etc. And all that against a background of genuine silence - and in the country, just real silence with every shepherd's pipe or ploughman's call heard from miles away. I would guess they were more finely tuned to distinguish music from the noise of life, because they were not used to hearing it all the time and hearing it loudly, which we are. Many of the favoured domestic instruments of the time were pretty quiet, even the pianos when they first arrived were very gentle beasts by modern standards, and fiddles are supposed to have been softer in tone before the 'redesign' lifted the bridge and raked the neck with higher string tension. Guitar family instruments were much quieter too. Maybe people did speak more gently and take more care not to be noisy. My grandfather was still a Victorian in spirit and his house was always very quiet, raised voices and we would be told to stop shouting, radio on a very low volume. And Victorians lived in a noisy industrial age, he worked in shipyards and I'm sure they were not quiet at all. I seem to remember seeing, somewhere, an Victorian engraving of a singer performing with a kind of horn like a gramophone horn or the bell of large wind instrument. It might have been a cariacature lampooing the huge orchestral brass instruments which were being invented. David Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] Re: Burns Night
> But, given this knowledgeable forum, how many people attend your Burns > supper? And I am not implying that bigger is better, by any means. > I am such a bum, they have a really good Burns supper here in Los Angeles every year onboard the Queen Mary, but we didn't go.. -- Toby Rider ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) "He either fears his fate too much, Or his deserts are small, That puts it not unto the touch To win or lose it all." - James Graham, Marquis of Montrose Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
